The foreign affairs ministers of the EU member states are to meet in Sofia for a Gymnich format meeting on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 February.
The meeting will begin with lunch, over which the situation in Syria will be discussed. This will be the first discussion since the Foreign Affairs Council in April (see EUROPE 11760). With the political discussions under the auspices of the UN in Geneva going around in circles, the situation on the ground is not improving and is of concern to the EU. For several weeks now, Turkey has been conducting an offensive in the region of Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in the north of the country (see EUROPE 11944). Furthermore, tension became heightened between Israel, the Syrian regime and its Iranian ally last week (see EUROPE 11959). The ministers could also discuss the humanitarian situation in the country, especially in the province of Idlib and Eastern Ghouta. Their debates may also focus on the role of the international community, especially with a view to preparing the conference on Syria – which could take play in Brussels on 24 and 25 April, according to a working document of the Dutch government.
The first session in the afternoon, which is scheduled to last two hours, will be dedicated to the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia). The foreign ministers are thus expected to discuss the European Commission's strategy for this region, which was published on 16 February (see EUROPE 11955) – with a summit being planned in Sofia between the EU and the Balkans on 17 May.
During a second session, this time scheduled to last for one hour, the ministers will speak about the situation in North Korea. While the country does not seem ready to stop its ballistic and military programmes, the Winter Olympics seem to be the opportunity for some détente with South Korea. Both Koreas have re-opened their channels of communication and North Korea has been authorised to participate in the Winter Olympics in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang.
Alongside this, the international community still intends to sit around the negotiations table with Pyongyang with a view to the full, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. In the meantime, the EU continues to exert pressure by adopting sanctions in response to North Korea's various ballistic and nuclear tests.
On Friday morning, 16 February, the foreign affairs ministers will be joined by their counterparts from the EU candidate countries (Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey). They are expected to discuss the European agenda in the area of security and defence – and especially progress on permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)